"Chisnall creates art that references such things as structure, time and Modernism as they pass through a very contemporary mindset that focuses on humor, transience, functionality and futility.”
D. Dominick Lambardi, 'Repurposing With a Passion', The Huffington Post.

Monday, 31 March 2008

This is one of many working drawings that relate to the tower sculpture that I am currently working on (see work in progress photo below). I find these working drawings very useful. Some times the sketches and the finished sculpture bear a close resemblance. At other times they don’t. This is usually because either, in working the idea out on paper, I see the flaws in a particular idea or because a certain material that I decide to use might suggest another line of enquiry.There seem to be two separate ways that I work as a sculptor. One where I have a set idea for a piece and where I set about making it so that it matches that original vision and another where I have a very loose idea for a sculpture and I simply let the materials and the chosen mode of construction dictate the end result. Although, it’s often a mixture of the two.

This is the corner section of a new tower sculpture that I'm working on. It has a couple of magnified lenses in the upper section which will eventually act as windows into a framed viewing platform. Apart from working on a few of the smaller details and framework, I'll probably put this section aside for a while and start work on some of the other sections. Then see how I can join them together. This is a slightly different way of working for me so it's proving to be quite a slow but interesting process. The only problem (and bonus) with working like this is that the process generates so many ideas for new sculptures. Sculptures that I'd love to start making but will probably never have the time to finish.

Sunday, 30 March 2008

Just a quick reminder that I still have copies of this print for sale. Also, I have found a company, 'Eden Image', who can make up really great lookin white box frames that go perfectly with the print.

Wednesday, 19 March 2008

This was just a quick sketch that I did. I was playing with the idea making some peculiar skeletal figures from bits of wire, string, old bones, broken tools and whatever else I could find lying around. For some strange reason my scanner and computer (which appears to be going a bit senile) seem to have taken a dislike to this sketch. Neither of them would recognise it and it took weeks before I finaly managed to get it scanned.

When I first had the idea for my 'Crutch & Tumour Box' sculpture I didn't have my sketch book to hand so I quickly scribbled down this thumb-nail sketch (afraid that I would have otherwise forgetten the idea) on a piece of scrap paper and taped it into my sketch book at a later date. Even though this is little more a scribbly little doodle I get quite precious about my drawings and sketch books. I suppose they are the hard copy manifestations of my creative thoughts.After nearly loosing half of my sketch books to a recent flood in my studio I really should take better care of them. Time to invest in some water-proof containers, 'me thinks'.

Friday, 14 March 2008

I know this is a bit short notice but if anyone is planning to go along to the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park this weekend please pop along and have a look at this piece that I have showing at the Stark Gallery stand (K8). Alternatively you can view it the following week at the Stark Gallery on 386 Lee High Road, Lee Green, London SE12 8RW.I would have mentioned me showing my work at the fair earlier but this was a bit of a last minute thing that only came about through last night's private view.

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

I've posted an image of this piece because this year is the tenth anniversary of the year that I properly became a sculptor and this sculpture was the starting point. Although, technically speaking I started making the molds for it in the latter part of 1997.

A couple of years after I first exhibitied this piece I started getting emails and phone calls from friends asking if I was exhibiting it in different galleries all over the place. It turned out that a few other artists had made similar sculptures after I had made mine. I suppose there was a bit of a zeitgeist thing going on. I'd be interested to know if anyone had made something similar before 1998.

Ironically, 'And When I'm A Man' is probably the largest sculpture that I have made to date. Most of my current sculptural work tends to be made up of small detailed components that grow outwards or upwards.

As well as being made from 12 separate body casts of myself (a self portrait, I suppose) 'And When I'm A Man' is based on the type of model kit that I used to buy as a child. When creating the piece I was interested in childhood perceptions of adulthood and the role that toys played in this, as I noticed that many figurative toys were that of adult characters.

Wednesday, 5 March 2008

This is an interior shot of my 'Sleeping Beauty Box'.In making this box sculpture my intention was to create a piece that from the outside appeared quite dull and ordinary. Yet, when you peered through its window you could imagine that you were looking at a scene from a fairy tale or a dream. This piece was also heavily influenced by the work of animators such as the Brothers Quay and Jan Svankmajer. I have always been facinated with animation and I sometimes think that many of my sculptures, especially the box and tower ones, resemble parts of animated film sets. I like to think of this interior shot as a still from a film that doesn't exist.

Monday, 3 March 2008

I seem to have an obsession with wheeled boxes that trail entrails behind them. I think it might be something to with the conflict between man-made geometric forms and the biomorphic aspect of the natural world. Or maybe it’s something to do with the body being seen as this pristine box that tries to deny the existence of its viscous, smelly and often rebellious insides. There’s probably something deeply Freudian going on.Anyway - this is the most recent drawing and it’s for an idea that I had that requires the use of a plasma cutter and a welder. Unfortunately I don’t yet have a plasma cutter so this particular project has been put on the back burner.

'The Ambassadors' takes its figurative element from a photograph that appeared in many of the British tabloids some years ago. It shows a fight between some English and Turkish 'football fans'.This photo shows the side view of the painting where you can see how the lines sheer off over the edge. The white line of the drawing is actually the primed surface showing through, so when you actually view the piece in the flesh, so to speak, your eye fluctuates slightly between the painted surface and the line drawing below. This can give the impression that the line of the drawing vibrates slightly.

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Biog

Based in London since 1999, Chisnall now divides his time and art practice between London and his new, larger studio in Shropshire. Coming from an illustration, painting and print-making background he is now as well known for his sculptures and drawings.

In 2005 he was awarded a bursary and membership from the Royal British Society of Sculptors.

As well as his work appearing in UK and international exhibitions, magazines, on record covers, and on TV (including BBC 2's 'The Culture Show', Channel 4 News, London Live, and Channel 4's 'Four Rooms'), his sculptures have appeared in the feature film, 'Scratch', directed by Jakob Rørvik. In 2013 he was commissioned to produce a series of paintings for the horror film 'Bliaze of Gory'.

The artist's work is featured regularly in on-line articles and interviews, including two separate articles in The Huffington Post.

Chisnall has organised and run art/sculpture workshops for schools and businesses since 1998, including ones for ING Bank's London headquarters via the Royal British Society of Sculptors.

John Malkovich chose Chisnall's script, 'Doppelganger', as the winning entry in the 2008 Sony VAIO Scriptwriting competition. This script, along with Malkovich's was then turned into the short animated film, ‘Snow Angel’.

“ … I’m going to go with the “Doppelganger” script. It’s clever, inventive, and somehow both surprising and inevitable. Very neatly done all in all.” John Malkovich (4th Jan. 2008).

As well as working on his own projects the artist accepts commissions. His clients include Mary Fox Linton, Andy Martin Architects, Converse, Dawood and Tanner, Domus, Ctrl.Alt.Shift, private collectors, and the Ping Pong restaurant chain.

Artist's Statement

Most of my current sculptural work involves the reworking and assemblage of found materials; materials that I feel have a certain ‘resonance’.

Memory, or its fallibility, is also central to a lot of my work. This is more strongly evident in my early pieces, which incorporate or recreate childhood artifacts and toys. A prime example of this is ‘And When I’m a Man I'll Think As a Man’, the life size sculpture of myself as a twelve piece, pre-assembly, model kit. An important aspect of the piece is its bright green colour, which was chosen to match my memory of that of a childhood toy – realizing that the memory would have mutated; exaggerating the luridness of the colour.

Another re-occurring theme or motif in my work is that of the wheeled box or tower, which relates to containment, the urge to possess, and restricted mobility.

As well as the obvious sexual interpretation of the orifice element that has emerged in many of my recent works, my main interest in the device, lies in it being the portal between the internal and the external.

Although not a film maker myself, my work is heavily influenced by my early passion for film and animation. This is evident in my archaic-looking tower sculpture, ‘The City,’ which echoes the same fairy tale or dream-like quality that is characteristic of the short films of animators such as the Brothers Quay and Jan Švankmajer.

“Chisnall’s towering wooden piece is made up of tiny display cases and cabinets made from found materials like skulls, insects and fossils, a kind of modern cabinet of curiosities. Or a nightmarish vision inspired by Jorge Luis Borges. He explains that much like the inhabitants of a big city, each compartmentalised environment plays out its own narrative, seemingly oblivious to that of its neighbour”. Julia Kollewe (journalist – The Guardian and The Independent), 2009.

“...Wayne Chisnall creates art that references such things as structure, time and Modernism as they pass through a very contemporary mindset that focuses on humor, transience, functionality and futility. There is also the presence of popular culture in his thinking, as he addresses the differences between reality and perception, and how that affects the needs, wants and even the formation of the human psyche.” D. Dominick Lambardi, 'Repurposing With a Passion', The Huffington Post, July 14th 2014.